Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The extortionate prices of energy and food are driving so many to the brink. For more than two years, prices have relentlessly increased. There has been no relief for people who are struggling. Prices have increased at rates that far outstrip any increase in wages. In fact, we know that real wages have gone down. The real median weekly wage has fallen by nearly €100, which is more than €5,000 per year.

While incomes are decimated, families are struggling to meet energy costs, which have doubled, and food prices, which are now in the stratosphere. Increases in energy and food prices are costing families at least an additional €3,200 annually, and that is just to eat and have enough electricity to power a home. We are not talking about workers and families who are spending disposable income on luxury goods; we are talking about parents who work hard all week and are going without meals so they can feed their children. We are talking about the 25%, a quarter, of residential gas customers whose bills are in arrears because they cannot make ends meet. We are talking about older people who are afraid to turn on the heating in their houses and who are sitting in freezing-cold rooms all day. These are people who contributed so much to our country for their entire lives, but ten of thousands of them have now been plunged into energy and food poverty and feel abandoned by the Government.

Last year, when energy prices soared after Russia invaded Ukraine, people understood prices would rise, but now that wholesale energy prices have fallen back to 2021 levels, why are ordinary consumers still being hammered with record prices? Why is the price of a basket of staple items in the supermarket continuing to rise? Tokenistic cuts to the prices of butter and milk will not cut it. It is telling that once one retailer made these reductions, everyone else piled in behind it. Clearly, it was a price reduction that they could all easily afford to make.

There is a suspicion that the supermarket chains are using Irish consumers as cash cows. Dunnes, Lidl and Tesco will not report their Irish profits. However, Aldi reported its Irish profits for the first time in 2021 and the results were revealing. Its Irish operation was 71% more profitable in 2020 than its British stores. Are the other retailers hiding similarly enormous profit margins? At the time of reporting its figures, Aldi's managing director said Ireland was more lucrative because there was less competition in the market. Perhaps there are just fewer consumer protections because we have a toothless regulator and an apathetic Government. Although the Taoiseach says he wants to see food prices come down in the next six weeks, what will he do if that does not happen? Anything?

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